Packing- fob



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEErcE.

JONATHAN P. SIMMONS, OF FULTON, NEW YORK.

PACKING FOR BAROMETERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 31,679, dated March 12, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J. I). SIMMONS, of Fulton, in the county of Oswego and State of New York, have invented a new and improved mode or process ot' prepa-ring packing for the purpose of hermetically attaching a lock to the siphon of a barometer or for similar purposes; and I do hereby de-` clare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l, is an elevation, showing the cistern, lock and siphon of a barometer; the lower joint being represented in an incomplete state; Fig. 2, is a Vertical section of the same, both joints being shown complete; Fig. 3, is a representation of the form of the packing leather used.

Like letters refer to corresponding parts in all of the figures.

The special object of my invention is facilitating the uniting of the glass tube of the barometer with a metallic stop cock for the well known purpose of locking or securing the mercury in the tube for safe transportation, and rendering the joint or connection between the parts both durable and perfect for the exclusion of air from entering the tube.

Mymethod consists as follows:

The stop cockA, as represented in the drawings, is of metal, of the form ordinarily used in gas-fitting, and forother similar purposes. Its eificient use depends upon its -being connected hermetically with the cistern B, and with the short leg of thesiphon, or tube, O, whereby the mercury may be passed through it when open, as in Fig. 2), from the cistern until the tube is lled, when it is closed. I bore out the ends or arms d (Z of the cock, to form a socket or thimble, large enough to admit the end of the tube and that of the Siphon, and allow a little space between for packing.

.mensions of the bore of the tube.

rl`he packing' which I use is chamois skin or other leather dressed in a similar manner, so as to be soft, yielding, and free from oil. It is cut in the forni represented in Fig. 3, having a hole in the center of about the di- This is saturated in a solution of gum shellac in alcohol, combined with an equal part or thereabout, of a solution of isinglass, made dense enough to be slightly adhesive, yet not so thick but that it will readily become absorbed into the pores of the skin.

j The packing thus prepared is placed over the end of the tube with its hole corresponding with that of the tube, and the latter is pressed forcibly into the socket. It is allowed to remain in that condition until the shellac has become thoroughly dry and hardened, when the margin of the chamois skin o is cut or trimmed oft' smoothly, and the joint is finished by applying a layerjof gas-cement f, smoothly over the outer surface of the joint, covering all irregularities', and preventing the action of air and moisture on the packing materials. This forms a perfectly tight and enduring joint, andl one which experiment has shown does not yield to the expansion of the mercury under the ordinary range of temperature to which it is subjected in a temperate climate..

It is a process that is cheap as well as effectual, and will endure as long as the other parts of the instrument, under proper use.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

The herein described process of preparing chamois leather, or equivalent material, to serve as a packing for hermetically sealing the joints of barometers, and other similar purposes, substantially as specified.

JONATHAN P. SIMMONS.

litnesses j MILo LAWRENCE, S. CRAMBIE. 

